Speed Metal Symphony

Cacophony, Cacophony | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Shrapnel
• ASIN: B00000106F
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #95,174 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Savage

2. Where My Fortune Lies

3. The Ninja

4. Concerto

5. Burn the Ground

6. Desert Island

7. Speed Metal Symphony

Editorial Reviews

Marty Friedman (Megadeth) and Jason Becker team up for this guitar onslaught.YEAR: 1987

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good Guitar Work But Really Lame Vocals, October 12, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Speed Metal Symphony (Audio CD)

I've been a fan of neo-cassical shred guitar since its beginings and I will say that this CD has some of the craziest dual guitar work EVER - next to the band "Racer X." However, when I first got this CD I was expecting an instrumental album that would take me on a musical epic journey. Unfortunately that wasn't the case. Instead, this album has typical song structures with verses and a chorus. The singer on this album sounds like someone doing a parody of a heavy metal singer, and the majority of the songs are written without much thought; fairly primitive in musical structure (except the solos and the instrumentals "Concerto" and "Speed Metal Symphony." The song "The Ninja" has a really cool intro but then those vocals come in :PThis CD is good for about 3 songs. I've always told myself that a CD is worth owning if it has at least 3 good songs, so buy it if you feel the same way. However, I think that Jason Becker's solo album "Perpetual Burn" is MUCH MUCH better. Also check out Yngwie Malmsteen's "Concerto for Electric Guitar And Orchestra In E flat Minor Op.1 - Millennium" for the best representation of neo-classical shred guitar.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Classic Neoclassic, January 16, 2005

By 

Eric B "Eric B" (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Speed Metal Symphony (Audio CD)

This album is difinitely on the required listening list for Neoclassical rock guitar history 101. A collaboration of two of the finest guitarists in the 80's shred scene, Speed Metal Symphony delivers the goods on hyperfast classically influenced guitar playing.

Two tracks, "Concerto" and "Speed Metal Symphony" are instrumentals, and are also the highlights of the release. The lyric laden "pop" songs on this record just don't seem to have the same impact, although the guitar lead on "Desert Island" probably set the world speed shred record at the time. Speed Metal Symphony shows a "Cacophony" at their best in the extended instrumental form, as the title would suggest.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Visceral!, April 30, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Speed Metal Symphony (Audio CD)

An absolute orgy of power chords and solos...but even that description is oversimplified,and may conjure images of mindless noise,as nothing is further from the truth. "Classical" music never sounded so good. Your pulse will thump like a jackhammer as you marvel how clever and creative this stuff is,and laugh at how serendiptious it is to combine classical melodies with depleted urianium grade metal--and how great it works. Judged by "song" standards,a couple of tracks seem uncohesive...but it doesn't matter,as you're still euphoric from those ephonious riffs.